Thursday Apr 28, 2011
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: I Don't Believe in Buddha!!
TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST
Dharma talks by Jundo Cohen Roshi & priests from Treeleaf Zendo
Listen on:
Episodes
Episodes
Saturday Apr 23, 2011
Saturday Apr 23, 2011
Taigen Dan Leighton writes, in his wonderful book Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and their Modern Expression ...
One meaning of Avalokiteshvara's name is "Regarder of the World's Cries or Sounds," indicated in the Japanese name Kanzeon. A shortened form of this is Kannon (or the Chinese Guanyin), "Hearing or Regarding Sounds." Avalokiteshvara is the one who calmly hears and considers all of the world's sounds of woe. This name implies that empathy and active listening are primary practices of compassion. Just to be present, to remain upright and aware in the face of suffering without needing to react reflexively, is compassion. Kanzeon acknowledges beings and their cries, and responds when appropriate or when it would be useful ... Considering all the many manifestations encompassed by Avalokiteshvara, however, we might also remember to carefully regard our own cries, the suffering of all the beings included within us. We cannot offer compassion to others if we cannot be compassionate, accepting, and forgiving of ourselves. We can hear and acknowledge our own feelings of fear, frustration, and anger with calm uprightness, rather than needing to react externally and act them out inappropriately.
I feel this is a wonderful reminder that we should offer Compassion and Loving Kindness to this Sentient Being, you and me, even as we reach out to help all Sentient Beings and the world (we are sentient beings in this world too!).
Kannon is often depicted with 1000 arms and eyes, seeing and reaching out toward suffering wherever it manifests. Truly, those hands and eyes are our hands and eyes.
Visit the forum thread here!
Monday Apr 18, 2011
Monday Apr 18, 2011
Dogen writes: "This old plum tree is boundless. All at once its blossoms open and of itself the fruit is born".
Please visit the forum thread here!
Saturday Apr 16, 2011
Monday Apr 04, 2011
Monday Apr 04, 2011
Yes, baby, can you divide the reality of one thing happening? Can you cut the sound in half? More than that, with a single blossom, all blossoms. The whole reality is captured in a single unfolding. From star to bin, all is said and expressed. Check this.
gassho
Taigu
Visit the forum thread here!
Friday Apr 01, 2011
Friday Apr 01, 2011
I have a BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG announcement to make:
Let's extend a warm welcome to ...
DENNIS 'GENPO' MERZEL ROSHI
as our
NEW ABBOT OF TREELEAF SANGHA!!!
(and GOODBYE TAIGU!! You broke Jundo's heart ... )
NOTICE: NEW SANGHA FEES EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY!
Visit the Forum Thread here!
Thursday Mar 31, 2011
Thursday Mar 31, 2011
PLEASE NOTE THAT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS HAS BEGUN IN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE.
THE SUBJECT OF THE LITTLE TALK THIS TIME WILL BE A SONG CALLED "THE FERRYMAN" by Ralph McTell. PLEASE SEE THE LYRICS HERE and HAVE A LISTEN:
LINK: http://www.treeleaf.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=51011#p51011
Dear All,
Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (1/1) (that is New York 7pm to 11pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 8pm (Friday night 12/31), London midnight to 4am and Paris 1am to 5am (early Saturday morning)) ... and visible at the following link during those times ...
LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST at USTREAM:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sit-a-long-with-jundo
But FEAR NOT if not possible for you to join 'live' in your location at those times, as the entire sitting is recorded in 'REAL TIME' and available for full participation 'ON DEMAND' at ANY TIME after that, no different from the 'live' sitting . Just click then on the links below:
THE 'REAL TIME, ANY TIME' recorded version is divided into 3 parts as follows (click on the links) :
00:00 - 00:50 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA / SANDOKAI IN ENGLISH) & ZAZEN 00:50 - 01:00 KINHIN 01:00 - 01:30 ZAZEN 01:30 - 01:50 KINHIN 01:50 - 02:30 DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN 02:30 - 02:40 KINHIN 02:40 - 03:15 ZAZEN 03:15 - 03:30 KINHIN 03:30 - 04:00 METTA CHANT & ZAZEN, VERSE OF ATONEMENT, FOUR VOWS, & CLOSING
Our Zazenkai consists of our chanting the 'Heart Sutra' and the 'Identity of Relative and Absolute (Sandokai)' in English (please download our Chant Book at the link below), some full floor prostrations (please follow along with me ... or a simple Gassho can be substituted if you wish), a little talk by me ... and we close with the 'Metta Chant', followed at the end with the 'Verse of Atonement' and 'The Four Vows'. Oh, and lots and lots of Zazen and walkin' Kinhin in between!
Please download and print out the Chant Book (PDF) at the following link:
http://www.treeleaf.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2231
I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU POSITION YOUR ZAFU ON THE FLOOR IN A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE NOT STARING DIRECTLY AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN, BUT CAN GLANCE OVER AND SEE THE SCREEN WHEN NECESSARY. YOUR ZAFU SHOULD ALSO BE IN A POSITION WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE COMPUTER SCREEN WHILE STANDING IN FRONT OF THE ZAFU FOR THE CEREMONIES, AND HAVE ROOM FOR BOWING AND KINHIN.
ALSO, REMEMBER TO SET YOUR COMPUTER (& SCREEN SAVER) SO THAT IT DOES NOT SHUT OFF DURING THE 4 HOURS.
I hope you will join us ... an open Zafu is waiting. When we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' 'then' ... we are sitting all together!
Gassho, Jundo
Visit the forum thread here!
Sunday Mar 27, 2011
Sunday Mar 27, 2011
... no place to hide! I came back to Tsukuba yesterday to find a town returning to calm, neighbors helping neighbors, and a great spirit of volunteerism and service. People are staying out of the rain, trying to avoid drinking the water, and the ground still shakes now and then ... but, otherwise, pretty ordinary March day.
These are images and newsreports of the 1896! tsunami in Japan which is said to have killed 27,000! people, rivaling the current disaster. 30,000 may have died earlier the same year in a separate tsunami.
Nor is that the only such case, with dozens of earthquakes, tsunami, vo
past century in Japan ... with hundreds of thousands dead or displaced.
And, in great part, this is also a source of strength in Japanese national character, as people pull together at such times and overcome. Sure, this recent disaster has a couple of twists ... the nuclear things and such ... but countless Japanese folks (and non-Japanese too) are doing so in this case too. Something like how Americans needed the hardship of "crossing the great frontier" to make American Character ... Japanese may thrive from nature's hardship and challenge.
I am sitting in near-normal safety in Tsukuba, while folks are truly suffering 100 miles northeast of here. The highways are filled with relief trucks moving supplies that way, local community groups are pitching in too in my town and 1000 others. I sent Mina and Leon to be with relatives in Osaka, the "safe" part of Japan (although they also have had a killer tsunami or two down there in centuries past), because the radiation levels here in the air, rain and water are not advisable for growing children. For an old guy like me, however, little concern or threat.
The subject of today's sit-a-long ... no where to run to, baby ... no where we need or can run, baby ... just be still, baby, even as we run for the hills!
Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended.
Visit the forum thread here!
Sunday Mar 20, 2011
Sunday Mar 20, 2011
Ryokan, the old big useless fool, writer of cheap poetry and wanderer in both worlds, this one and the next, writes:
Violets and dandelions
mixed together
in my beggar's bowl
are offered to all the buddhas
Manifest here, there and everywhere
Broken bowls, begging bowls, that's what we are.
Nothing special, nobody special.
Takuhatsu is the action of going begging in the streets, floating away in this fleeting world, things given and received, but who gives, who receives?
In the light of the sad events of the past few weeks, Let's take a look at this bowl.
gassho
Taigu
Visit the forum thread here!
Welcome to Treeleaf Sangha
Treeleaf Zendo is an all-digital practice place for Zen practitioners who cannot easily commute to a Zen Center due to health concerns, living in remote areas, or childcare, work and family needs, and seeks to provide Zazen sittings, retreats, discussion, interaction with a teacher, and all other activities of a Soto Zen Buddhist Sangha.
Available for you any time, all fully online.